Lew Perkins set to retire as Kansas University’s athletic director at end of 2010-11 school year

KU’s A.D. to leave beleaguered department next year

Kansas University athletic director Lew Perkins smiles as he is approached by media members Thursday in the parking garage adjacent to Allen Fieldhouse. On Thursday, Perkins announced his intention to resign from his position after the 2010-11 academic year but did not comment.

Photo Gallery

Lew Perkins through the years

Feature

KU Athletic Director led the Kansas Athletic Department for seven years and retired on Sept. 7, 2010. Look back at his time at KU.

Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins — who on Thursday announced his retirement — will work on Mount Oread until Sept. 4, 2011.

And Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said his expertise will be needed as KU faces an uncertain future because of the anticipated breakup of the Big 12 conference.

“I believe that part of his decision to retire may have been to allow him to focus on the things that need to be done,” Gray-Little said. “I think the idea was that by making his plans clear at this time that he would be able to focus more clearly on the things that we need to do.”

Perkins and KU athletics have been mired in controversy in recent weeks, as it was revealed that five employees and a consultant allegedly had participated in a scheme to sell football and basketball tickets for personal gain. Federal authorities are investigating the cash-for-tickets scheme, as well as other allegations about irregularities with tickets.

Still, Gray-Little said she was surprised when Perkins told her Thursday he’d decided to leave.

“I had not asked him to retire, and I had not asked him to resign,” she said.

“I knew that the day would come,” he said of Perkins’ planned departure from KU. “I think everybody knew it was coming. It was surprising it would come today.”

Self said he talked with Perkins on Thursday.

“He was in good spirits,” the coach said. “I think he has a peace about it. And regardless of what angle you’re taking, the man has been through a lot in the last couple of months.”

However, Self said Perkins’ decision to leave should not be equated with being forced out.

“He won’t walk away from any battle or fights,” Self said. “It was something he felt in his heart that was the best way to serve the university. … This guy has gotten some stuff done while he’s been here.”

Perkins would not comment on Thursday. However, in a statement he said, “At this time, my greatest priority is working on conference alignment issues, and as I’ve committed to the chancellor, I will work tirelessly on these efforts. Conference alignment is the biggest challenge we have before us as an athletics department and an institution.”

The timeline set for Perkins’ retirement would allow him to claim one last retention bonus from Kansas Athletics before leaving, according to his contract.

According to an amendment to his contract negotiated by former Chancellor Robert Hemenway, Perkins would be paid $600,000, tax-free, from Kansas Athletics if he is still serving as athletics director on June 30, 2011.

A $2.05 million retention bonus contributed to Perkins’ receiving more than $4 million in salary and bonuses in 2009. His base salary is $800,000 per year, and he earns an additional $100,000 for media relations work.

Unprecedented changes

Perkins arrived at KU in 2003 after a highly successful stint at the University of Connecticut. Perkins replaced Al Bohl, who left KU under turmoil after taking over for Bob Frederick.

“I am very proud of the academic and athletic success of our student-athletes during my time at KU, and I will forever treasure the friendships and experiences being a Jayhawk has brought,” he said. “Our supporters are among the best across the nation, and I could not be more pleased with how much we have accomplished together.”

Perkins turned 65 this year and said it was “the right time” for such a decision.

During his time at Kansas, Perkins affected the growth of KU’s athletic department budget in an unprecedented manner. At the time of his arrival, KU’s athletic budget was $27 million annually. Today, KU’s annual budget has reached more than $55 million.

In addition, while at Kansas, Perkins oversaw a football team that won the first BCS bowl game in school history, as well as watching a men’s basketball program win its first national championship in two decades.

In 2008, Perkins was voted by a poll in Time magazine as the top sports executive in the world. He was the only college sports administrator to make the list of 35.

Challenging year

It’s been a difficult year for Perkins, who had to answer for fights between the KU men’s basketball and football programs, then had a lame-duck football coach, Mark Mangino, for the latter part of the season because of an investigation into Mangino’s conduct toward his players. Following that, five members of the athletic department and one consultant resigned under pressure or were fired because of a ticket-scalping scandal that cost the university millions. Finally, in recent weeks, Perkins found himself in the middle of a blackmail scandal involving exercise equipment provided to him for personal use.

A native of Chelsea, Mass., Perkins was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame in 1989. A highly recruited basketball player, he played at the University of Iowa (1965-67) for Hall of Fame coach and KU graduate Ralph Miller. Perkins earned his undergraduate degree there in 1967.

Perkins served as Director of Athletics (1969-80) and head basketball coach (1969-79) at the University of South Carolina-Aiken as that institution grew from a junior college to a four-year institution. He received his master’s degree in education (1975) from the University of South Carolina.

Perkins delivered the commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Education degree at USC Aiken in May 2005. Perkins also has served as athletics director at the University of Maryland and Wichita State University, and associate director of athletics at the University of Pennsylvania.

At Connecticut, where he worked from 1990-2003, Perkins was instrumental in guiding UConn athletics to growth athletically, academically and financially. His leadership influenced six NCAA Division I National Championships at UConn.

Oh come on now! Who wouldn't support a guy like Lew. Lew himself is stepping down - he's not being fired. So Self will understand I am sure and I can guarantee you he won't be going anywhere. Like I said below I wouldn't be surprised if the Big 12 stays intact and we pick up a couple good teams from the MWC and make the conference stronger. Come on down BYU and TCU!

I still can't believe how the entire KU alum base and Kansas citizens are reacting to this. The Big 12 is DEAD! If KU goes to the MWC, KU basketball is DEAD! And, while this may seem strong, I believe it will have a substantial impact on the future of Kansas.

I really think KU conference-wise will be fine. Texas wants to stay that's no secret. I am thinking the most probable situation is for the Big 12 to invite a couple good teams from the MWC (BYU, TCU) and keep on trucking. Sorry to hear Lew is stepping down but I think his replacement will be somebody already in house.

Well so much for Texas saying they want to stay huh? If this is true then you can bet the MWC comes calling and then becomes BCS conference. To be honest all I care about is being in a BCS conference. Don't worry too much man.

Since we are all finding out that collegiate sports is all about the money, I nominate Warren Buffett as our next AD..he doesn't know crap about sports but he sure knows a lot about the other stuff.

I'm not sure Lew had much choice seeing that this scandal would have been a distraction that would have followed him for the rest of his Kansas tenure.

One silver lining is that he will still be here during this next critical year of conference replacement as well as mentoring his replacement.I think he will work hard so that his legacy will be a positive one at the end.

Can you honestly blame Nebraska...pounded by Texas in football for 15 years and pounded by Kansas in basketball for 15 years!!

Pounded? Did you watch the Championship game? Neb had that won! keep the ball in the air to take off less than a half a tick and Texass loses. Nebraska doesn't care about basketball and never has. They know that isn't where the money comes from even with elite teams like Kansas.

finally. It's about time. Lew had his decent time here...but this was not a good year, and the last few months has shown he doesn't have a handle on his people.

the reason why he is staying thru next year is because he must have something cooking...or that's part of the buy out contract...."land us in a decent league Lew, and you'll get paid...otherwise, you don't get a dime."

like i said, he was good for our school....for awhile. he helped build up football, and he hired Coach Gill, and he's definitely increased the money. but womens bball still stinks, our overall sports are not good, and this ticket scandal is terrible, and makes us a laughingstock.

Good riddance Lew...i really hope we don't have to see you on TV that much over the next 11 months.

We all should be scared. This is disastrous. The Big XII is toast, KU will get stuck in some worthless conference. Basketball dominance will quickly fade, and football...well it will still be football as we know it. All of the lawrence residents should be worried as well. This will be a major loss in local revenue. Who from the Mountain west will travel to lawrence to spend money? Businesses will suffer.

I hate to be pessimistic, but the dominoes are starting to fall.........right on our heads!

No I think right now all we can be sure of is 2 schools leaving. The OSU report is FALSE - check it out the AD said specifically they are still comitted to the Big 12. Look for the Big 12 to add a couple schools from the MWC.

Both of you are ridiculous. You can't control what every other schools does. Hear me out: what IF (WHAT IF) she actually did everything she CAN DO and someone still bolts?? Just because things aren't going your way doesn't mean you just fire people expecting a different result with someone else. IGNORANT!

Who are the pansies who wanted Lew gone because they can't handle a little heat? These higher ups need to realize Lew is the right guy with the right connections to make sure KU lands softly when the Big XII crumbles.

PC society with idiotic reactions to the slightest hint of impropriety. Now we have to worry about the Big XII falling apart, keep the funding coming into the University and the projects Lew has begun AND worry about keeping Bill Self around.

Genius idea to make Lew step aside. I would love to see what is in the closets of the 'holier than thou' crowd who are taking the steps to get rid of Lew.

I'm one of the pansies that didnt' want corruption in my university athletic dept. and felt the top dawg had to take responsibility instead of the line we got, "I didn't know what was happening... below me. It's my fault except for the illegal, uneithical, unpleasant actitivies.... " that was the day it was evident he was gone. sad for us.

The CEO of British Oil should go also. While he didn't personally work on the oil rig he did set the tone, mission for profit over safety that led to the disaster. His captian said drill faster ignore the bad seal and keep drilling...

Too much negative publicity happened on Lew's watch when his job his largely to know what's going on. It was too much for even him to survive. This has definitely been a tough 6 months for KU. I disagree that we are screwed because Lew won't care now what happens. It's Lew. He will want to leave on the highest note possible and he'll do everything he can to leave a great final impression.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, university spokesman Gary Shutt said: "The report circulating about an immediate announcement today concerning Oklahoma State University and conference realignment is without merit. There are no announcements planned by Oklahoma State University. We remain committed to the Big 12 Conference. If there are additional defections, we will have to evaluate our options."

I'd get out too. Can you imagine trying to maintain the money monster he's created if we end up in a second tier conference? I pity the guy replacing him, who has to try to figure out how to fill that massive budget deficit. Unless he can pull a rabbit out of a hat and land us in a BCS conference, his predecessor is screwed.

Losing 9 games will do that in that conference. But obviously you've missed my point. KU has way more tradition than Memphis anyway. And they played for a NC in 2008 just like we did and we won. It's not the end of the world.

Plus, you should cheer up because it sounds to be if you believe all the hype that KU could be headed to the PAC.

In the worst case scenario the new Mountain West Conference would actually be pretty decent - especially from a football perspective. Plus it would be a shoo-in for a BCS bid. Maybe the conference naming rights are carried over so who knows if it would still be the "MWC"

In the worst case scenario the new Mountain West Conference would actually be pretty decent - especially from a football perspective. Plus it would be a shoo-in for a BCS bid. Maybe the conference naming rights are carried over so who knows if it would still be the "MWC"

I had to scroll 3/4 of the way down to find someone who obviously read the entire article and isn't ready to jump out the window. Lew is retiring, he'll be here till sept 2011, he's 65. Sure the trouble this past year played a part in his decision but this is a smart move. It should put to bed all the distractions and let him concentrate on whats really important now. He'll be able to navigate this re-alignment mess and we'll be fine. I'm sad to see him go but that's just me being selfish. Again, he's 65, he's rich and he's not going to live forever.

As long as we can separate from KSU (which accordingto the Topeka paper nothing is holding us together in the lawbooks anyway).... Here is what Mr. SEC thinks (online).....

"If Florida State and Virginia Tech could be added to the East, then Missouri’s media markets and Kansas’ basketball tradition would make for a smart expansion plan.

Let’s talk basketball for a second. Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt made the NCAA tournament last year. So did Florida State, Kansas and Missouri. Virginia Tech and Mississippi State just missed. Television is tied to football more than basketball (higher ratings, more commercial breaks), but there’s nothing wrong with the SEC putting itself in the same conversation with the ACC and Big East.

And remember, each NCAA tournament win is worth about a million bucks. More bids = more money."

..... So if we market ourselves without KSU we can go anywhere.

....... Otherwise we both end up in the Mountain West, making the State far less money overall than having Kansas in the SEC (HUGE football contract and brand new HUGE basketball contract).

Someone please explain to me how Nebraska all of a sudden because an institution of higher education along the lines of a top Big 10 school. Back in the 80's, the smart Omaha kids came down to KU because they didn't want to go to the equivalent of a jr. college if they went to Lincoln. What changed?

Who's in charge of PR on the Hill? If you have bad news to roll out, it should be on Friday afternoon... always. And why in the world, with the conference collapse roiling, would you make this announcement today. Just ludicrous. Poorly played by Mount Oread folks. The only thing that gives me hope - Lew has one last trick up his sleeve, gets us into a decent hoops conference. Uggh.

Perkins is showing exceptional leadership... the way he has taken responsibility for his actions and not just cut and run like a self centered coward...wow! Oh wait that was someone else. Ask yourself Lew, if you left the place better off than the way you found it.... sixth months ago you could say you did, but today you can't. NO conference, under investigation, athletic personnel stealing millions from the University, and he exploited his position for some stupid exercise equipment. You're an embarrassment.

I agree with natehawk completely. AD comes to a great program, gets big salary and praise and then when all h breaks loose abandons ship.....leaving great program in a world of hurt and great coach "frustrated" .......that is not good. Self is crying out for someone at KU to take charege of this athletic program nightmare that all of sudden he has become the KU spokesman for (that is not his job...think ADs job). PerKins darn lucky he gets his big salary for another year not to mention retirement benefits.....there is a very real chance that the great program will be in horrid shape by the time he retires and great BB coach long gone after KU ignored his frustration and expected him to do ADs job while someone else was getting paid to do it

lack of judgement, or incompetence or not keeping eye on the ball, or not setting the proper mission....not sure which.
Giveme a break, six employees steal millions of dollars and your house of cards points for seats system allows pre tax gifts in lieu of cash for stuff you get to take home to your house.... not even a worn out softball should be in your house. it's black and white.
then he didn't take ownership of the issues, worse part not the theft but the lack of ownership of what he created, scalpers make millions it's an iside game.

The last shoe to drop, after USC gets the NCAA bomb, and pray it does not happen is the NCAA basketball issues with the 2008 season, heaven forbid someone did anything wrong, playing non eligible players or messing with drug test, or the like, as some of you don't want a clean but rather have a winning program, well I want a program so clean that our banners are not suspect of ever being removed. If the Ath Dept. is full of black tar, what is to stop it from affecting NCAA rules, hope we avoid doing anything that stupid just the fraud and grand theft would be plenty for me. +

Find us a home Perkins! Find us a home to be proud in, a quality conference, potential super conference that will have long lasting relevance in college athletics! If you fail, our coaches and recruits are gone. KU will always have a strong, if not the strongest basketball tradition and history, but I want a Future! No more headlines about your personal exercise equipment, not participating in conference discussions, or ticket scandals. I want some action! ...Ditch KSU if necessary, they're the ones who are a better fit in MWC or CONF USA, not us, and KU can always play them non-conference. Only rivalry worth its weight in blood is with those MU bushwackers!

I wish lew would have left before the mangino fiasco or rather power struggle between the two...nobody has done more for KU football than Mangino and now Lew is leaving KU in a wake of disaster...what a great leader...(sarcasm)

I see KUSports deleted a lot of my comments. Was I leaking sensitive information? It doesn't say 'removed due to violations of staff agreement' or anything so where did they go?? You'll see above it looks like KSA is replying to himself!

The "there's a lot we don't know going on here" meter just went off the scale!

So: here's some speculation until we learn more.

~Self signalled the most, as he has been doing through the hole of Scalpinggate and Realignmentgate. Lew has been planning to retire after the 2010-2011 season for awhile, but no one thought he would announce it today.

~The only logical inference to draw from Self's signal is that Lew has been clearing his wake for some time. Execs clear their wakes of enemies and hostiles that could do them harm subsequent to the Execs departure, if those enemies and hostiles were left in their jobs. Mangino was a wake clearing. Probably several of those former employees in Scalpinggate were wake clearings.

~Lew was clearing wakes for Lew and Self to blow town together after the 2010-2011 season.

~Some group of persons that really don't like Lew Perkins and and maybe Bill Self, too, figured out the drill and decided to take the bobsy twins down...waaaay down.

~This whole situation of KU getting caught up in Scalpinggate right at the time of conference realignment smells a bit like Dean Smith somewhere in the background. The Deaner never forgets. Neither does Roy.

~And Chancellor Grey-Little just arrived from UNC. How coincidental?

~Chancellor Gray-Little has just spoken and she's one tough (and angry) academic dame.

~Bernie appears to have just put a bureaucratic Smith and Wesson to Lew Perkins' bald head and said, "Suck on this, pal."

~I believe Bernie just gave Lew till June next year to put KU in a conference and get an AD she approves of, or:

a) Lew does not collect $600K; and

b) Lew does some time.

~Perk just screwed with the wrong hyphenated lady.

~Self is gone after this season--soon to be the new Thunder coach--and it was in the works all along.

~What was not in the works was Scalpinggate, and this has thrown Lew and Bill a real curve ball.

~The next AD will be someone no one has ever heard of, maybe the deputy AD at UNC.

~Manning should probably our next head coach, but if Bernie and Dean plug and play a UNC deputy AD, then Manning will get the cold shoulder.

~Looking at Realignmentgate with some detachment, the Big 12 has been trying to merge with the Pac Ten at least since the two conferences announced the pre-conference season tourney involving both a couple years ago. The question is why did the merger suddenly not go smoothly, and apparently abort? Why did MU and NU blow cold on merging with the Pac Ten? Why did Colorado jump alone? Why are the Big 12 South teams wanting now to bolt without the remaining North teams?

I've explained in other posts that there is probably a NAFTA super corridor expansion dynamic in the subtext of realignment. But that subtext cannot entirely explain why the Big 12 North teams are unwanted in a Big 12-Pac Ten merger. What does seem to be increasingly possible is that Lew, while paying lip service to KU joining the Big 12-Pac Ten merger, wanted to take KU and as much as possible of the Big 12 into an east coast conference alliance. the Pac Ten is okay, but it is frankly, a pointless merger for B12 teams unless the Pac Ten and merged B12 teams can hook up with an eastern time zone conference.and escape the media marginalization KU and B12 endure at the hands of ESPN and CBS.

I have no idea which eastern conference Lew nearly had a deal cooked up with, but which ever one it was, it must have been a basketball conference first. Three fit the bill. Big East. Atlantic Ten, or ACC. When Lew's deal surfaced, the football schools in the B12 wanted no part of it.And that was when Realignment Gate began.

~I for one would really hate to see KU and OU join the SEC, because neither KU, nor OU, have any legacy ties to the South.It will be horribly sad for a great free state of the join the south..

I think the stress has finally gotten to you jaybate. I'm not sure what else to say. Please tell me about 97% of what you wrote is sarcasm. Dean Smith? Realignmentgate due to Lew courting east coast schools? After the last couple of days, I wouldn't be surprised by much, but your theories are way, way out there. What happened, dude?

Did Jaybate really just reference the "NAFTA super corridor"? I'm with rapichard. This is either mocking all the conspiracy theorists or the wheel is still spinning even though all this drama just killed the hamster.

I am a KU accounting/business grad of 35 years ago, I'm disgusted by KU's actions, inactions and mismanagement on all levels. Now we have a lame duck AD for the most critical year with conference alignment issues, Lew will not have any incentive to best represent KU. Lew did some great things, but like many corporate leaders he grew too big for his britches and ego took over. Lew thought he was bigger than the university. Mangino was fired for lesser sins and Lew rides off in the sunset with his dollars, but lets make it clear that he did not "voluntarily" resign, this was to help Lew save face. Lew's hiring practice and management were atrocious and he should have been relieved of those duties long ago, coach Bonnie continues to get raises for a mediocre woman's b-ball program, firing Mangino prematurely before a plan could be put in place, hiring Gill too quickly without interviewing other coaches, hiring/promoting the people in charge of the ticket scandal, the list never ends. The mismanagement in athletics reflects poorly on KU's academic status and business schools, it indirectly sends a message that this is how you run a multi-million $ business - - and even KU with all its academic resources still does not have it figured out, shame on them!

Call the University, let's start making some demands. Let our voices be heard. This is all grotesque if you ask me...and B.S.! Why should we stand beside and watch our great University get passed over!?!? We are KANSAS DAMMIT! Now everyone get off your asses and start calling up the AD's office, the chancellors office, the alumni association, start writing editorials, poster Lawrence, whatever it takes! Don't dare mention to me Mountain West, or "oh look at Memphis, they survived", you make me ill. Let's demand great competition, and the national prominence we have worked so hard to attain. If Lew can deliver that, he needs to go yesterday. Fancy practice facilites mean sh*t if you are in the Mountain West or Conference USA my friends. I've made my calls...make yours!!!!!!! WE ARE KANSAS AND WE DON'T HAVE TO SIT BY AND WATCH THIS JUST UNFOLD ON ESPN PEOPLE. SPEAK UP!!!!!!

My head is spinning like Linda Blair's. I've got a measly $50,000 stuck in a tax sheltered annuity from a previous job some 25 years ago and not even David Copperfield could turn it into tax free money.